It was today that important milestone. Quite wintery it still is though. However today I saw the first green tips of crocus leaves sticking out of the ground in a place were the snow had melted away. That really cheered me up even if the sea ice still lies on the water at the Porkkala peninsula as far as the eye can see.

Welcome to my domain

The blog concentrates mainly on the natural world through my eyes

The blog owner herself

Lucia, Ljuba and Rufino

Triple Trouble

map of Finland

Espoo - my home town

Statistics about Finland

Total length is 1157 km at the longest point
Total width is 542 km at the widest point
Total width is 200 km at the narrowest point
Total area is 338 145 square km
Coastal border line is 1100 km
Gulf of Bothnia to the west and Gulf of Finland to the south
Archipelago includes abt. 81 000 islands (not counting the smallest rocks)
Largest island is the Åland main island (a swedish spoken area enjoying sovereignity and outside of the EU)
Most northern point is Nuorgam 2200 km from the North Pole
Most southern point is Bogskär (island) 6600 km from the South Pole
Total border line length is 3600 km
Borders Sweden to the west, Norway to the north, Russia to the east and Estonia to the south
Nearly a quarter of the land area is above the arctic circle (Lapland)
Finland is the fifth largest country in Europe by total area
Total amount of inland water areas is 33 522 square km
Percent of forestation is abt. 70 %
Total amount of lakes is abt. 80 000 (not counting the smallest ponds)
Biggest lake is Saimaa
Amount of rivers is 647 of which main rivers 90
Biggest river by water area is Kemijoki and the longest is Tornionjoki (both in northern Finland)
The highest point is mount Halti in Lapland 1328 m above sealevel
The lowest part is the province Ostrobothnia largely under 100 m above sealevel
The biggest cave is Torhola chalkstone cave, 31 m long (situated in southern Finland near the small town of Lohja)
Total population is abt. 5.7 million
Domestic languages are finnish, swedish and saami (in Lapland)
Finland is devided into 12 provinces
Total number of towns is 102
Largest towns are Helsinki (capital), Espoo, Tampere and Turku (Åbo in swedish)
Finland has been independent since 1917 and the independence day is 6th December.
Finland is a constitutional democracy and has a president (Mrs. Tarja Halonen), a ministery and a parliament
The climate is typically northern with four distinct seasons.
Winter spans often into April. April and May are the real springtime. Summertime is from June to August and the autumn often spans into December in large parts. Lapland has a different climate but still four seasons.

Valkyrien of Norway made me a hot blogger by this award
Thankyou dear friend. I must take care not to burn my fingers while writing :)

Oh please do not think I gave myself an award, even if I did start this one. There is a limit to my vanity. No, it was dear Pacey from Today's Blah that wanted to give this same award back to me as what I gave to her. So I made it as well as received it.
At leats that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I got this nostalgic award from Zilga
Thank you dear blog friend

I got this lovely award from Valkyrien and EbieThank you so much my dear friends